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him struggling against it, as a man in the midst of the deep waters exerts all his efforts, by swimming, to save himself from drowning.

CHAPTER XXVI.

1. we have a strong city] In opposition to the city of the enemy, which God hath destroyed, chap. xxv. 2.: see the note there.

3. they have trusted] So Chald. . Syr. and Vulg. read, we have trusted. Schroeder, Gram. Hebr. p. 360. explains the present reading, m, impersonally, confisum est.

4. in JEHOVAH] In JAH JEHOVAH, Heb.; but see Houbigant, not. in cap. xii. 2.

8. we have placed our confidence in thy name] LXX, Syr. and Chald. read "p, without the pronoun annexed.

9.-have I desired thee] Forty-one MSS (nine ancient), and five editions, read ". It is proper to note this; because the second being omitted in the text, Vulg. and many others have rendered it in the third person.

16. we have sought thee-] So LXX, and two MSS, TP, in the first person. And so perhaps it should be py, in the first person: but how LXX read this word is not clear; and this last member of the verse is extremely obscure.

For the LXX read, in the first person 'likewise: a frequent mistake: see note on chap. x. 29.

18. we have brought forth wind] The learned Professor Michaelis explains this image in the following manner: Rariorem morbum describi, empneumatosin, aut ventosam molam, dictum; quo quæ laborant diu et sibi et peritis medicis gravidæ videntur, tandemque post omnes veræ graviditatis molestias et labores ventum ex utero emittunt: quem morbum passim describunt medici:" Syntagma Comment. vol. ii. p. 165. The Syriac translator seems to have understood it in this manner : "Enixi sumus, ut illæ, quæ ventos pariunt."

Ibid. in the land], so a MS, LXX, Syr. and Vulg.

19. my deceased] All the ancient versions render it in the plural; they read, my dead bodies. Syr. and Chald. read, their dead bodies.

Ibid. of the dawn] Lucis, Vulg.; so also Syr. and Chald.

The deliverance of the people of God from a state of the lowest depression, is explained by images plainly taken from the resurrection of the dead. In the same manner the Prophet Ezekiel represents the restoration of the Jewish nation from a state of utter dissolution, by the restoring of the dry bones to life, exhibited to him in a vision, chap. xxxvii. which is directly thus applied and explained, ver. 11-13. And this deliverance is expressed with a manifest opposition to what is here said above, ver. 14. of the great lords and tyrants under whom they had groaned:

They are dead, they shall not live;

They are deceased tyrants, they shall not rise:"

that they should be destroyed utterly, and should never be restored to their former power and glory. It appears from hence, that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was at that time a popular and common doctrine: for an image which is assumed in order to express or represent any thing in the way of allegory or metaphor, whether poetical or pro phetical, must be an image commonly known and understood; otherwise it will not answer the purpose for which it is assumed.

20. Come, O my people; retire-] An exhortation to patience and resignation under oppression, with a confident expectation of deliverance, by the power of God manifestly to be exerted in the destruction of the oppressor. It seems to be an allusion to the command of Moses to the Israelites, when the destroying angel was to go through the land of Egypt, "not to go out at the door of their houses until the morning;" Exod. xii. 22. And before the passage of the Red Sea: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of JEHOVAH:-JEHOVAH shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace;" Exod. xiv. 13, 14.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE subject of this chapter seems to be the nature, the. measure, and the design of God's dealings with his people: ver. 1. his judgments inflicted on their great and powerful enemies: ver. 2. his constant care and protection of his favourite vineyard, in the form of a dialogue: ver. 7. the mo

deration and lenity with which the severity of his judgments have been tempered: ver. 9. the end and design of them, to recover them from idolatry: and, ver. 12. the recalling of them, on their repentance, from their several dispersions. The first verse seems connected with the two last verses of the preceding chapter.

1. Leviathan, &c.] The animals here mentioned seem to be the crocodile, rigid, by the stiffness of the back-bone, so that he cannot readily turn himself when he pursues his prey; hence the easiest way of escaping from him is by making frequent and short turnings-the serpent, or dragon,' flexible and winding; which coils himself up in a circular form the sea-monster, or the whale. These are used allegorically, without doubt, for great potentates, enemies and persecutors of the people of God: but to specify the particular persons or states designed by the Prophet under these images is a matter of great difficulty, and comes not necessarily within the design of these Notes.

2. the beloved vineyard] For 2, a great number of MSS, and some printed editions, have ; which is confirmed by LXX, and Chald.

Ibid. --a responsive song] That ny, to answer, signifies occasionally to sing responsively; and that this mode of singing was frequently practised among the ancient Jews, see De S. Poes. Hebr. Præl. xix. at the beginning.

3. I will take care of her] For TPD, Syr. reads TPDN): and fifteen MSS (six ancient), and six editions, read PN, in the first person.

.חומה חימה An ancient MS has

4. I have no wall] For , LXX and Syr. read For 2, two MSS read D, plural. The vineyard wishes for a wall, and a fence of thorns; human strength and protection; (as the Jews were too apt to apply to their powerful neighbours for assistance, and to trust to the shadow of Egypt): JEHOVAH replies, that this would not avail her, nor defend her against his wrath: he counsels her therefore to betake herself to his protection. On which she entreats him to make peace with her.

"About Tripoly there are abundance of vineyards and gardens, enclosed for the most part with hedges; which chiefly consist of the rhamnus, paliurus, oxyacantha," &c.: Rawolf, p. 21, 22. A fence of thorns is esteemed equal to a wall for strength, being commonly represented as impenetrable. See Micah vii. 4. Hos. ii. 6.

Ibid.of the thorn and brier] Seven MSS (two ancient), and one edition, and Syr. Vulg. Aquila, read nw, with the conjunction prefixed.

5. Ah!] For 8, I read "N, as it was at first in a MS. The was easily lost, being followed by another".

6.

from the root] For I read with the Syr.

joining the to the יציצו פרח יציץ ופרח And for משרש

first word, and taking that into construction with the first part of the sentence. I suppose the dialogue to be continued in this verse, which pursues the same image of the allegory, but in the way of metaphor.

9. And if ], four MSS (two ancient), and LXX. 11.-her boughs], MS and Vulg.; that is, the boughs of the vineyard, referring still to the subject of the dialogue above.

The scarcity of fuel, especially wood, in most parts of the East is so great, that they supply it with every thing capable of burning; cow dung dried, roots, parings of fruit, withered stalks of herbs and flowers: see Matt. vi. 28-30. Vinetwigs are particularly mentioned as used for fuel in dressing their food, by D'Arvieux; La Roque, Palestine, p. 198. Ezekiel says, in his parable of the vine, used figuratively for the people of God, as the vineyard is here," Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel;" chap. xv. 3, 4. "If a man abide not in me," saith our Lord," he is cast forth as a branch [of the vine], and is withered: and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned;" John xv. 6. They em ployed women and children to gather these things; and they laid them up in store for use. The dressing and pruning of their vines afforded a good supply of the last sort of fuel: but the Prophet says, that the vines themselves of the beloved vineyard shall be blasted, withered, and broken; and the women shall come, and gather them up, and carry away the whole of them, to make their fires for domestic uses. See Harmer, Observ. i. p. 254, &c.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1 The proud crown-] "Sebaste, the ancient Samaria, is situated on a long mount of an oval figure; having first

a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running round about it:" Maundrell, p. 58. "E regione horum ruderum mons est peramcenus, planitie admodum frugifera circumseptus, super quem olim Samaria urbs condita fuit:" Fureri Itinerarium, p. 93. The city, beautifully situated on the top of a round hill, and surrounded immediately with a rich valley, and a circle of other hills beyond it, suggested the idea of a chaplet, or wreath of flowers, worn upon their heads on occasions of festivity; expressed by the proud crown, and the fading flowers of the drunkards. That this. custom of wearing chaplets in their banquets prevailed among the Jews, as well as among the Greeks and Romans, appears from the following passage of the book of Wisdom: Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments, And let no flower of the spring pass by us:

66

Let us
crown ourselves with rose-buds, before they are
withered."
Wisd. ii. 7, 8.

2.—the exceedingly strong one]

mino, i. e. fortissimus, a Hebraism. For

MSS, and two editions, read ms.

3.-crowns] I read

.תרמסנה verb

N, fortis Do

8, thirty-eight

y, plural, to agree with the

"No sooner doth

4. The early fruit before summer] the boccore [the early fig] draw near to perfection, in the middle or latter end of June, than the kermez, or summer fig, begins to be formed, though it rarely ripens before August; about which time the same tree frequently throws out a third crop, or the winter fig, as we may call it. This is usually of a much longer shape and darker complexion than the kermez, hanging and ripening upon the tree even after the leaves are shed; and, provided the winter proves mild and temperate, is gathered as a delicious morsel in the spring;" Shaw, Travels, p. 370. fol. The image was very obvious to the inhabitants of Judea and the neighbouring countries, and is frequently applied by the Prophets to express a desirable object; by none more elegantly than by Hosea, chap. ix. 10.

Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel;

Like the first ripe fig in her prime, I saw your fathers." Ibid. —he plucketh it]

הראה which with יראה For

makes a miserable tautology, read by a transposition of a letter ; a happy conjecture of Houbigant. The image

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